Delhi man gets 2-year jail, Rs 1.48 cr fine for power theft

New Delhi, Nov 21 (IANS) Terming power theft to be a major menace for distribution companies, BSES, one of the capital’s discoms, on Monday said a special electricity court here has sentenced an offender to two years’ jail and a Rs 1.48 crore fine.

“Convict Ranjit Singh Chaudhary is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay fine of Rs 1,48,61,194, and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for 6 months,” BSES said in a release here.

“Chaudhary was caught stealing a whopping 243 kw of electricity for running a plastic factory at Golden Park, Rampura in Tagore Garden,” the discom said.

“No electricity meter was found at site. The entire electricity load of the factory (running under the name HP Plastic) was being stolen using 8 teflon wires,” it added.

Power theft not only results in substantial revenue loss to discoms, but also increases the number of trippings and local breakdowns manifold, BSES said.

“Efforts of discom enforcement teams to check the irregularities are thwarted by organised gangs on many occasions. Whenever enforcement teams reach these areas, these gangs ‘gherao’ (surround) them and don’t let them check their premises,” it said.

“Though Delhi discoms have managed to reduce AT &amp; C (accumulated technical and commercial) losses from over 55 per cent to under 15 per cent in the last 14 years, there are still areas in Najafgargh, Jaffarpur, Mundka, Nangloi, Daryaganj, Chandini Chowk, Paharganj, Seelampur, Nand Nagari, Yamuna Vihar, and Karawal Nagar, Shaheen Bagh where power theft continues to be a concern,” it added.

Earlier this year too, special courts in three separate judgements had sentenced to rigorous imprisonment Delhi residents for power theft and imposed heavy fines.